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Even though we know the outcome by looking at the state of Hollywood today. Buy this book. That it is the most well researched and executed piece of work about Lucasfilm.ltd available today. By focusing not just on the over arching vision of the film makers, but also on the individual people who brought those visions to life, and then went on to follow their own dreams with the technologies and methods they developed. What can i say about Droidmaker.
You will see bits of yourself in these fascinating people, and get a clear mental image of the lives they were living, in order to make dreams into reality. That you should buy it if you work with computers, film, or have any sort of interest in the history of cinema. Not only am i glad that i bought Droidmaker, and not only do i rave about it to all my friends and family, but i can see what an important document of history this is, in that it is a candid and majestic [though not at all exaggerated] telling, of the truth behind the path of modern cinema, and its lasting effect for all users of personal computers, and all purveyors and enjoyers of entertainment, from now, into the forseeable, and unforseeable future. Today. Finding out how it came to the current state, and just exactly how much of it was instigated by George Lucas and Fracis Coppola [among others] because of their never ending quest to improve the craft of film making, and bring the ability to make film to the masses, is one hell of a ride. As stated in other reviews, there are other books proclaiming to tell the history of George Lucas.
That it is awesome. Definitely. But none as honest, truthful and human as the tale told in Droidmaker. Yes. With enough landmarks along the way [like the release of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films] to give a clear understanding of where in time you are, and how fast the innovations were progressing. I mean in the "So riveting you can't bear to miss out on whats going to happen next" kind of way.
Sure. This book is impossible to put down, and i dont mean like that time i glued War and Peace to my palm in 8th grade because i was bored.
All movies, sound effects, and music are produced using digital systems, and DroidWorks showed the way. I visited Andy Moorer at DroidWorks in 1982, who gave me an incredibly generous hour long tour of the headquarters, and showed me the prototypes of their Audio Signal Processor. Moorer and his friends blazed the trail for the whole audio industry, publishing and lecturing extensively on what they had done. I certainly wanted to have my own system like the astounding machines I saw at DroidWorks, and designing my own was the only way that I would ever get my hands on one.
This is a great book, entertaining and intricate, which tells an important story. There were many other people working in digital audio, but few published as much, or were as bold, or had such a broad vision of how far the technology could go to replace the existing technology, or how dramatic the new technology could be. Today, tape recorders exist only in museums. The guys a DroidWorks pioneered the digital audio industry that exists today.
I invented the concept for the program "Sound Designer" and worked closely with Evan Brooks of Digidesign to implement this program on the brand new Macintosh computer. It was as vivid as a Lucas Film movie, and as futuristic, but it became real. In 1981, I desperately wanted to break into computer music, having studied electronic music and electrical engineering. I eventually did break into computer music when I went to work at E-mu Systems in 1983, where I implemented a computer audio editing system.
The leaden, sterile word choices and phrases used by this engineering culture make the sense of disconnect even worse. "Droidmaker" is a remarkable book, bringing the story of computer animation to life, allowing non-technical people like me to understand how this process evolved.
This book is required reading for anyone with a basic level of curiosity on how the digital revolution came to be. The photographs of the people and events involved in the story are particularly well chosen.
I am a borderline technophobe whose mind goes blank whenever I am forced to read any computer product user's manual. His name is Michael Rubin.
There isn't another one out there like it The brains of the people that write these things are obviously wired very differently than mine.
The good news is that I finally have found an Electronic Moses to lead me to the promised land.
Oh, did I mention all the stuff about video games. The first half, dealing more with Lucas and the history of Star Wars is probably a little more accessible, but the back half, with its detailed telling of the evolution of Pixar and other Lucas-driven technical innovations, is equally fascinating. Seriously, this is among the best books I've read in the past five years. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this book. If you have a passing interest in modern movie making, the history of Pixar, or are a fan of Star Wars/George Lucas, you really have to read Droidmaker.
I have always wondered if George knows how responsible he is for the start of numerous film careers.I really have enjoyed this book. I'm learning so much about what was really going on while me and other slobbering, special effects wannabes grabbed our super8 cameras and made our little FX films.I ended up as a cinematographer and know several others who now have impressive credits in the area of filmmaking.all due to our new found young love of filmmaking started by a little space opera in 1977. Worth the read. I was one of many young kids in 1977 who was overwhelmed by Star Wars and who spent the next several years writing letters to ILM and John Dykstra trying to get a job. The whole thing just seemed like the ultimate description of fun.I never got any responses but this book has made me smile allot.
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